AUS Tertiary Update Vol.4 No.9

In our lead story this
week…..SALARY SETTING POST-TEACAUS has this week
written to the Minister in charge of Tertiary Education,
Steve Maharey asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how
salaries are to be set in the environment being proposed by
the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC). The
letter points out that this issue appears to have been
neglected to date in discussions on the future of the
sector, and is not part of TEAC's brief. AUS makes clear
the present arrangements – under which employment contracts
and agreements are negotiated on an
institution-by-institution basis – are not working, and says
the situation has been aggravated by the fall in public
funding of universities in real terms. This has been further
worsened by the government's freeze on fees in its last
Budget – meaning a de facto pay freeze in the university
sector for this year, and perhaps next. AUS says that since
the late 1980s, when university salaries ceased to be
determined by the Higher Salaries Commission, academic pay
rates have fallen dramatically, and have not even kept pace
with inflation. The letter points out, too, that the current
salary-setting mechanism will be inappropriate under the
system envisaged by TEAC. That proposes much more active
engagement by government, and with the direct link between
salaries and student fees decoupled, the AUS letter says,
some new framework is required for salary setting in
universities.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:1.
Legislation "premature, unnecessary and objectionable"2.
Sustaining USP3. Name change for Waikato
Polytechnic4. Alarm at US students' mounting debt5.
Canadian university accused of hiring bias6. Unity over
Tory privatisation plan

LEGISLATION "PREMATURE,
UNNECESSARY AND OBJECTIONABLE"The Vice-Chancellors'
Committee is calling the Education Amendment (No.2) Bill,
currently before Parliament, "premature, unnecessary and
objectionable". In its submission to parliament's Education
and Science Select Committee, the NZVCC points out that the
legislation is premature because much of its content
concerns issues being considered in a wider policy context
by TEAC. Professor James McWha, chair of NZVCC, points out
that TEAC favours a commission to steer the sector, and yet
the Bill proposes giving new powers to the education
minister before a decision is made on TEAC's proposals. The
NZVCC submission also takes issue with provisions in the
bill for monitoring institutions, saying this is a direct
threat to their autonomy, and raises "the spectre of
Government-controlled universities". "The Bill is
unnecessary in that it is clear that the Government already
has sufficient power under current legislation and through
budgetary controls to achieve its financial monitoring
objectives for the tertiary education sector," Professor
McWha says. He also stresses that the Bill overlooks the
fact that the main reasons tertiary education institutions
are at risk are over-capacity in the system and the
continual decline in government funding per student over two
decades.

SUSTAINING USPThe Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff has outlined the government's
stand concerning the post-coup future of the University of
the South Pacific, saying it is committed to giving
financial and practical support, but cannot intervene in the
affairs of other education providers who see opportunities
in Fiji. Mr Goff was replying to a letter sent to him
earlier this year by the AUS president, Neville Blampied.
That called for New Zealand to foster support for the
university's charter among other Pacific governments, and
for this country's representative on the USP Council to take
a stand on issues such as academic freedom. It also pointed
to the competition USP faced as foreign providers –
including Massey University – contemplated setting up there.
In his reply, the Minister points to New Zealand's annual
grant of $2.75m to USP, as well as offers of help with the
infrastructure needed for USP to diversify its operations
through distance education. Mr Goff says that in briefing
newly-appointed New Zealand representatives to the USP
Council and the Grants Committee, it was made clear that
this country's goal is to be supportive to the institution
and encourage good governance. In that context, he notes,
"we do not expect our representatives to take the dominant
role in determining the direction of the USP …..it is
important that leadership in this area comes from the
Pacific Island members of Council."

NAME CHANGE FOR
WAIKATO POLYTECHNIC Waikato Polytechnic is to become the
Waikato Institute of Technology, bringing to an end a long
drawn-out saga over re-naming the institution. Marketing
staff at the polytechnic had suggested taking the name of
arguably our greatest living treasure, Sir Edmund Hillary,
but the local community objected, wanting the direct link
with "Waikato" retained. Sir Edmund was happy to be
associated with the institution, and now it's being
suggested that, as recompense, the Waikato Institute of
Technology might find a role for him as its patron.

WORLD WATCH

ALARM BELLS AT US STUDENTS' MOUNTING
DEBTA report released in the United States says students
are getting deeper and deeper into debt each year, and most
of them do not realise how much they will owe after they
graduate. The report, by the State Public Interest Research
Groups' Higher Education Project, calls on Congress to
increase spending to make loans more affordable. It
suggests eliminating charges to set up loans, and providing
flexible repayment options to prevent students defaulting on
the money they owe. The report also warns lawmakers not to
heed calls by private colleges and costly public
universities to increase the amount of money students are
allowed to borrow. "We are concerned with efforts to
increase loan limits without reducing the total cost of
borrowing for students," the report says. Currently,
students in college for five years can take up to $22,625 in
federal loans. In turn, the institutions argue that the
limits have not kept up with college costs, forcing students
to turn to pricier loan agencies to see them through their
study.

CANADIAN UNIVERSITY ACCUSED OF HIRING BIAS A
leading left-wing academic is accusing Simon Fraser
University (SFU) of blocking his appointment to a chair
because of his views on the use of technology. David Noble,
a professor of the history of technology at York University
in Toronto, was unanimously chosen for a chair at SFU's
Faculty of Humanities, but was subsequently rejected. SFU
says Professor Noble was not appointed because he would not
agree to a background check that involved referees picked by
the university rather than by the applicant himself. The 5
referees have all been the subject of criticism by Professor
Noble. But Professor Noble's supporters, including the
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), see the
move as linked to his politics. He has been a vocal critic
of on-line education because of the alliances it creates
between universities and the private companies that provide
the finance. As one of Professor Noble's referees for the
position, Ralph Nader, put it: "David is a person who
challenges autocratic procedures at institutions, and
especially the corporatisation of universities. If you do
that, you stand out and people are opposed to you." Jim
Turk, CAUT Executive Director, says that CAUT regards this
as a breach of academic freedom and is referring the matter
to its Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee

UNITY OVER
TORY PRIVATISATION PLAN The Association of University
Teachers (AUT) has joined the National Union of Students
(NUS) in condemning plans by the British Conservative
Party's plans to privatise higher education. The plan
would see commercial rates of interest introduced for
student loans, and an endowment system put in place for
universities. Research by the AUT has found that the cost of
the endowment proposals would be £89 billion and both
organisations fear the proposals would lead to top up fees
being imposed. Calling it "the most dangerous higher
education proposal put before the general public in a
generation", the general secretary of AUT, David Triesman
suggested the party "should come clean and tell us where the
widespread support for [the] policy can be found. Increasing
student hardship and continuing unrest by university staff
about pay and conditions would only be heightened by freeing
up universities in the private
sector."***************************************************************************AUS
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